Sunday, October 15

We got a taxi to St. Peter’s and arrived at the square about 8:30 AM. The crowds were already starting to build, but we were able to find two seats near the center in the front half of the seating area. People everywhere were wearing scarves and hats in the colors of “their” saints. Two of the saints were Italian, one was Mexican, and the other was a French nun who went to Indiana in 1840. Mass started at 10, and ran about two hours. I couldn’t see a whole lot, being vertically challenged, but the sound system was good, and they repeated a lot in English.

Next stop was to see them making Majolica pottery. We got a tour of the factory, then of course the obligatory shopping. On to Assisi!

Once again, the bus had to park at the bottom of the hill. Most of our tour group walked up, about a 15 minute walk, but four of us opted for a taxi to the restaurant. We had a typical Italian lunch of two pasta courses, one a fettuccine alfredo with chicken and the other spaghetti, then a meat course – a skewer of some kind of sausage, and some chicken and vegetables. Dessert was almost pure whipped cream with a dark cherry on top.

After lunch, we started our tour of Assisi with a local guide. We walked up – and up – and up – to the church of St. Clare.

Then up some more . . . we could see the fortress still way above us, but finally we went as far up as we needed to go, well below the fortress, and started back down to the church of St. Francis. And, of course, we had to walk back down to the bus!